An organisation that helps people in mortgage arrears is to seek rapid home repossessions in the courts to help keep single parents and children in their homes.The Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation has spent the past decade trying to slow down and discourage courts granting repossession orders to banks and vulture funds.Now it is to seek to fast-track repossessions in cases where women and children have been abandoned by 'deadbeat dads' who refuse to sign off on debt deals with the banks for their abandoned partners and children.......David Hall of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation said hundreds of mothers were stranded in mortgage arrears after husbands left them, stopped paying the mortgage, and then refused to engage with the lender.He said the only solution for these distressed borrowers was to encourage the courts and the banks to fast-track the repossession of the property and then put in place a mortgage-to-rent deal.

Courts do not need the consent of either party to a joint mortgage if they decide to grant a repossession order.Mr Hall will use his iCare Housing organisation, a not-for-profit body, to buy the homes.

"We are doing this because the reality is we see no other way to do it," he said.

An organisation that helps people in mortgage arrears is to seek rapid home repossessions in the courts to help keep single parents and children in their homes.The Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation has spent the past decade trying to slow down and discourage courts granting repossession orders to banks and vulture funds.Now it is to seek to fast-track repossessions in cases where women and children have been abandoned by 'deadbeat dads' who refuse to sign off on debt deals with the banks for their abandoned partners and children.......David Hall of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation said hundreds of mothers were stranded in mortgage arrears after husbands left them, stopped paying the mortgage, and then refused to engage with the lender.He said the only solution for these distressed borrowers was to encourage the courts and the banks to fast-track the repossession of the property and then put in place a mortgage-to-rent deal.

Courts do not need the consent of either party to a joint mortgage if they decide to grant a repossession order.Mr Hall will use his iCare Housing organisation, a not-for-profit body, to buy the homes.

"We are doing this because the reality is we see no other way to do it," he said.

I smell a scam

But if anyone is in arrears, its because they can't afford to pay. 100% of the time.

The chief executive of a charity that helps homeowners in arrears has said he accepts that a statement on its website may have misled the public into thinking it did not make payments to board members.

The most recent set of published accounts for the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO) shows that David Hall and three directors — Tracy Mullan, Constantin Gurdgiev and Lucy Cronin — received €96,500 between them in 2015.

The IMHO website stated that in 2015 none of its directors “receive any fees, salary or remuneration for their work from the organisation”. When The Sunday Times revealed in 2015 that five directors had each been paid €5,000 the previous year, the “no payment” claim was removed.

I was half-listening to Marian Finucane/Brendan O'Connor yesterday and there was mention of David Hall talking to AIB about setting up a 'good vulture fund' to buy up loans. Anyone head details or read anything about it?

A subprime lender is said to have backed down on plans to repossess a widow's family home after a protest at the property was threatened.A possession order secured by Start Mortgages, an affiliate of vulture fund Lone Star, had been due to be enforced today by the Dublin City Sheriff.However, the repossession was put on hold earlier this week. Mortgage debt campaigner David Hall said this happened after he posted on social media on Sunday saying he would ask people to attend at the house and protest.According to Mr Hall, Start Mortgages has now agreed to allow iCare Housing, the approved housing body he heads up, to buy the house in the Dublin suburb of Cabra.If the sale goes ahead, the widow and two of her children will be able to continue living in their home under a rental agreement with iCare......In the Cabra case, the woman and her husband bought their home in 1995 with a mortgage from First National Building Society but soon got into difficulties paying off their loan. Start Mortgages took over the mortgage in 2006 and began High Court proceedings the same year.It is understood a possession order was granted soon afterwards but it was not enforced.The woman's husband died in 2012 and the matter did not come before the courts again until 2017. A renewed possession order was granted on November 28 last year.

iCare has modelled its operations on the Government's Mortgage to Rent Scheme. It is seeking to buy suitable homes from lending institutions where the mortgage holder can't pay the mortgage and is eligible for social housing.Mr Hall said the Cabra family fell into this category, but that initially Start Mortgages would not agree to a deal."Now Start have agreed to back down and allow iCare Housing to buy the house and allow the family stay there as social housing tenants and Start get paid in full," he said."It is a sensible outcome and will stop a mother and two children becoming homeless."

Under the terms of the iCare offer, the outstanding debt would be paid, as well as arrears and some legal costs.The property will then be owned and managed by iCare with the occupants becoming social housing tenants under a 25-year tenancy agreement."They are means tested and they pay rent in accordance with the normal social housing rules. The local authority will then pay the balance of the rent," said Mr Hall.If at the end of the 25 years the occupants are still eligible for social housing, they can continue to rent.Should their fortunes improve they will be able to buy the house back at the price iCare paid for it.However, they will not be able to sell it on at a profit.

Mortgage debt campaigner David Hall said this happened after he posted on social media on Sunday saying he would ask people to attend at the house and protest....According to Mr Hall, Start Mortgages has now agreed to allow iCare Housing, the approved housing body he heads up, to buy the house